Generally, the invention relates to the field of locking and alarm devices, and more particularly, to bicycle locks and alarm systems.
Bicycles are often stolen, and if recovered, frequently have damage that is irreparable. Replacing a stolen or damaged bicycle is expensive and time consuming. To keep bicycles from being stolen, many bicycle riders turn to bicycle locks.
Bicycle locks tend to be heavy, bulky, and cumbersome to lock and unlock. Because securing a bicycle is difficult, bicycle locks and restraints require a significant amount of dexterity to lock or unlock. To a student trying to get from class to class at a university or other school, or to a delivery person who uses a bicycle, the difficulty of locking a bike makes locking and unlocking the bike impractical, while the time it takes to lock and unlock the bicycle makes getting from class to class on time difficult. The result is that some of the very people who need to lock a bicycle the most, never do.
Accordingly, to overcome these and other disadvantages associated with bicycle locking mechanisms, it would be advantageous to have a bicycle lock and alarm system that locks and unlocks quickly, and alerts a user of an ongoing theft or bicycle tampering. The invention disclosed herein provides such an invention.
The invention provides technical and operational advantages as a remotely controlled bicycle lock and alarm system. Generally, the invention is a remotely controlled bicycle lock and alarm system including a radio wave processor enabled to receive a communication from a remote control device. Coupled to the radio wave processor is a control circuit. A sound generator, a locking mechanism, and an input/out system are also coupled to the control circuit. The control circuit is enabled to lock and unlock the locking mechanism.
In another embodiment, the invention is a remote control system (the remote control system) that is enabled to at least remotely lock and unlock a bicycle lock. The remote control system includes a radio wave processor, and a control circuit enabled to implement an alarm function. A locking mechanism and an input/output device are both coupled to the control circuit. Accordingly, the invention provides a user the ability to quickly and remotely lock and unlock their bicycle, and notifies a user of a tampering with their bicycle.
Of course, other features and embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. After reading the specification, and the detailed description of the exemplary embodiment, these persons will recognize that similar results can be achieved in not dissimilar ways. Accordingly, the detailed description is provided as an example of the best mode of the invention and it should be understood that the invention is not limited by the detailed description. Accordingly, the invention should be read as being limited only by the claims.